<p>And guess what? You also have to buy Office when you buy most Windows-based laptops as well! (Unless you download it online, which I neither damn nor condone.)</p>
<p>Just download OpenOffice.org if you're that cheap/lazy.</p>
<p>hey, when i can download it for free i'd rather not pay 200.</p>
<p>OpenOffice is free, but generally unreliable, a system resource hog, and doesn't have any nice proprietary features present in MS Office. For college work, you NEED MS Office.</p>
<p>
[quote]
hey, when i can download it for free i'd rather not pay 200.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Bummer, because you have to. Although since I'm a Microsoft tester, I get Microsoft Office 2007 for free, plus 10 licenses...</p>
<p>hobofromdowntown,</p>
<p>Guess what? You can also download it for free for Mac!</p>
<p>So then what's the next problem?</p>
<p>Strykur,</p>
<p>I dunno, my experience with OpenOffice was generally good. I only went back to MS Office because of the transition to Universal Binaries being a bit painful and slow. Otherwise, I think it's pretty good, and many companies seem to agree. It just has a slightly steeper learning curve than Office.</p>
<p>Though, for a number of the technically inept, that may pose a problem. Oh well, this generation doesn't seem to respect intellectual property rights anyway, so download away!</p>
<p>yes, download away.</p>
<p>its harder to find for macs but i guess where there's a will there's a way. i'm thinking of picking up the macbook with the student discount.</p>
<p>First off, I'm female (I know my username doesn't make that obvious). Secondly, I mentioned that I've never really used a Mac before. We actually do have a Mac at my house, but it's a Perfoma 400 from the mid 1990s. No internet connection, nothing. It's the only exposure I've had to Macs. How on Earth would I know that your can get MS Office for a Mac????</p>
<p>Whew...really</a> broke a sweat there! ;)</p>
<p>frostburg,</p>
<p>I tend not to make claims that I can't back up, but maybe that's just me.</p>
<p>Okay, I'm done giving you a hard time. :P</p>
<p>hey, you're tempting me to get a mac with all your talk of easy access to software :)</p>
<p>Well, I'll tell you this much...</p>
<p>It's not hard. ;) To be honest, I was a bit shocked at how in some ways the pirating community for Macs is actually better developed than the one for Wintels.</p>
<p>Hey, I was legitimately asking if the two were compatible. I wasn't making any claim that they definately are not. I was only going off of the fact that I can think of many instances where there were compatibility problems between two Windows-based computers.</p>
<p>Whoops, I confused you with flgirl...my bad. All you Mac haters look the same to me. ;)</p>
<p>Speaking of flgirl...</p>
<p>
[quote]
I would not get an apple, as many on campus computer programs may not be compatable with them, even if you are running windows on it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This doesn't even make any sense!!!</p>
<p>and i thought mac users were technology iliterate :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Only get a Mac if you like the look. For durability go for a Lenovo Thinkpad. For hot looking + powerful yet lightweight laptops check out some Asus. Dell is an option if you cant spend much. Iv never liked HP/Compaq that much but Iv heard recently there quality has been up. Basically it would be Lenovo > Asus = Apple > Sony > HP/Compaq > Dell. If you want to be special check out some Samsung and LG offerings. Great quality and some are really awesome. Downside is that you might have to import it but you will be guaranteed to be the only one having it (or one of the very elite few) lol. LG has some ridiculously light/thin yet functional laptops.</p>
<p>While I'm a Mac user, I'll say this, if you're going to go the Windows route, look at Thinkpads. They're tough machines, although they aren't the best looking ones around.</p>
<p>But nevertheless, as I stated earlier in this thread, for your situation, a Mac would probably work the best. For you, I'd recommend the MacBook, and if you use your educational discount (go to <a href="http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/routingpage.html%5B/url%5D">http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/routingpage.html</a>) they start out at $1,049 with free shipping. </p>
<p>You can get a copy of MS Office for Mac (Student Teacher edition) at Amazon for right under $130. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001WN16M/sr=8-1/qid=1155051097/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2137290-7351323?ie=UTF8%5B/url%5D">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001WN16M/sr=8-1/qid=1155051097/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2137290-7351323?ie=UTF8</a></p>
<p>Go to <a href="http://www.apple.com/getamac/%5B/url%5D">http://www.apple.com/getamac/</a> and it will help answer a lot of the basic questions you have about the Mac platform. You can also go onto a Mac forum (personally, I like Mac Rumors) and talk to the people there. <a href="http://forums.macrumors.com%5B/url%5D">http://forums.macrumors.com</a></p>
<p>I like how the "Macs are so expensive" myth still refuses to die.</p>
<p>MacBooks start at $1099 (that's without a student discount) and the features the base model has are more than enough to satisfy the OP. It includes tons of bundled software, as well as Mac OS X, which I will claim is the best consumer operating system in existence.</p>
<p>Macs aren't incompatible with everything. Most campus computing environments try to support Macs (which really isn't that hard anyway). They can network seamlessly with Windows and Unix/Linux machines. Most major software titles are available for the Mac. For those that aren't, get Windows or Parallels Desktop and put it on the MacBook.</p>
<p>Man, macs are really expensive. That's why I stay away from them.</p>
<p>go with an ASUS s96j from powernotebooks.com...best build quiality and nice price tag ($1200-1300)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Man, macs are really expensive. That's why I stay away from them.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Why don't people consider things like build quality, OS, bundled software, and extras when comparing?</p>
<p>Is it just an, "oohhh, fast vid card! me wantee!" sort of thing?</p>